Using data from the China Kadoorie Biobank study, we conducted a prospective investigation on the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cancer risk in Chinese adults. A total of 508,892 participants (mean (standard deviation) age = 51.5 (10.7) years) without prior cancer diagnosis at baseline (2004-2008) were included. We documented 17,463 incident cancer cases during follow-up until December 31, 2013. Participants with T2DM had increased risks of total and certain site-specific cancers, and the hazard ratio (HR) was 1...

The prevalence of obesity has increased substantially in the past in almost all countries of the world, and a further increase is expected for the future. Besides the well-established effects on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, there is convincing evidence today that obesity also increases the risk of several types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, endometrial cancer, renal cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer. Obesity probably also increases the risk of ovarian cancer, advanced prostate cancer, gallbladder cancer, and gastric cardia cancer...

BACKGROUND: There is scepticism about health effects of dairy products in the public, which is reflected in an increasing intake of plant-based drinks, for example, from soy, rice, almond, or oat. OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to assess the scientific evidence mainly from meta-analyses of observational studies and randomised controlled trials, on dairy intake and risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, cancer, and all-cause mortality...

Chemotherapeutic regimens are the most common treatment to inhibit tumor growth, but there is great variability in clinical responses of cancer patients; cancer cells often develop resistance to chemotherapeutics which results in tumor recurrence and further progression. Metformin, an extensively prescribed and well-tolerated first-line therapeutic drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus, has recently been identified as a potential and attractive anticancer adjuvant drug combined with chemotherapeutic drugs to improve treatment efficacy and lower doses...

BACKGROUND: Despite the lack of scientific data, many cancer patients hold the belief that glucose 'feeds' cancer and might affect disease outcome. We aimed to evaluate associations between glucose, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), and survival among individuals with diabetes and diabetes associated cancers. METHODS: Five retrospective cohort studies were conducted in a large population-representative database. The study population included all patients with diabetes and an incident diagnosis of colorectal, breast, bladder, pancreatic and prostate cancers...

The roles of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway in various cancers including breast, bladder, brain, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, head and neck, hepatocellular, lung, neuroblastoma, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, renal and other cancers have been keenly investigated since the 1980's. While the receptors and many downstream signaling molecules have been identified and characterized, there is still much to learn about this pathway and how its deregulation can lead to cancer and how it may be differentially regulated in various cell types...

Higher body fatness is not only associated with a higher risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease but also with certain types of cancer. The scope of this review is to summarize the epidemiological evidence for an association between body fatness and specific types of cancer and to outline the mediating role of obesity-related biomarkers in this context. Epidemiological studies have gathered convincing evidence that greater body fatness is associated with a higher risk of colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, endometrial cancer, esophageal adenocarcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, and pancreatic cancer...

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is characterized by a group of metabolic disturbances which lead to an enhanced risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus. MS constitutes a preoccupant issue with elevated prevalence in the western countries and is often related with cancer development. Elucidating the mechanisms linking these two pathologies is, therefore, essential to identify potential therapeutic molecular targets for cancer treatment in MS patients. The main goals of this review are, to identify the relation between MS and cancer development, handling specifically each one of the main players on this process: insulin and IGF system, estrogen, pro-inflammatory cytokines and others; and, given that colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in MS patients, we intend to particularly highlight the mechanisms that promote colorectal cancer development in MS individuals...

The epidemiological studies have proven an increased incidence of cancer in patients with diabetes and the ne-gative effect of diabetes on their prognosis. The relation to type 2 diabetes was found in hepatic, pancreatic and endometrial malignancies, in colorectal, breast and bladder cancers. Diabetes as well as malignancies are multifactorial diseases with a number of common risk factors: age, gender, race, overweight and obesity, diet, physical activity. A higher incidence of malignancies in diabetic patients is not only a result of sharing these risk factors, as diabetes itself predisposes to carcinoma development...

Both diabetes and cancer are prevalent diseases whose incidence rates are increasing worldwide, especially in countries that are undergoing rapid industrialization changes. Apparently, lifestyle risk factors including diet, physical inactivity and obesity play pivotal, yet preventable, roles in the etiology of both diseases. Epidemiological studies provide strong evidence that subjects with diabetes are at significantly higher risk of developing many forms of cancer and especially solid tumors. In addition to pancreatic and breast cancer, the incidence of colorectal cancer and prostate cancer is increased in type 2 diabetes...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor for cancer such as pancreatic, liver, colorectal and breast cancer. In addition, diabetes decreases the risk of prostate cancer. These associations have been found in numerous epidemiological studies, among them several prospective cohorts. However, such studies do not prove causality of the association and cannot exclude inadequate correction for known confounders (e.g. visceral fat) or the influence of unknown confounders. Thus, it is unclear whether the cancer risk is increased by the causes (e...

A review of epidemiological studies on the intake of oats and oat-based products and its effect on the risk of chronic disease and deaths was performed. Seven studies were identified of cancer risk (two each on prostate and colorectal cancer, and one each on pancreatic, breast and endometrial cancer), and one study on overall mortality. With the exception of a case-control study of pancreatic cancer, all studies were of cohort design: five studies were based on a single cohort from Denmark. The results of most cohort studies suggest a weak protective effect of a high intake of oats on cancer risk (relative risks in the order of 0·9)...

Diabetes mellitus and cancer are common conditions, and their co-diagnosis in the same individual is not infrequent. The relative risks associated with type 2 diabetes are greater than twofold for hepatic, pancreatic, and endometrial cancers. The relative risk is somewhat lower, at 1.2-1.5-fold for colorectal, breast, and bladder cancers. In comparison, the relative risk of lung cancer is less than 1. The evidence for other malignancies (e.g. kidney, non-Hodgkin lymphoma) is inconclusive, whereas prostatic cancer occurs less frequently in male patients with diabetes...

Both diabetes mellitus and cancer are prevalent diseases worldwide. It is evident that there is a substantial increase in cancer incidence in diabetic patients. Epidemiologic studies have indicated that diabetic patients are at significantly higher risk of common cancers including pancreatic, liver, breast, colorectal, urinary tract, gastric and female reproductive cancers. Mortality due to cancer is moderately increased among patients with diabetes compared with those without. There is increasing evidence that some cancers are associated with diabetes, but the underlying mechanisms of this potential association have not been fully elucidated...

Oncologists and diabetologists quote scientific data from epidemiological and in vitro studies to show that high levels of insulin and glucose, in combination with oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, can heighten the risk of developing cancer amongst patients with diabetes. Although the cancers that have been consistently associated with type 2 diabetes include pancreatic, colorectal, breast and liver cancer, the preponderance of the disease risk factors such as obesity, inflammation, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinaemia (as a result of insulin resistance and oxidative β-cell damage) and the indirect influence of anti-diabetic medications are increasingly being defined...

AIMS: To test the hypothesis that cumulative exposure to insulin and long-acting insulin analogs might be associated with cancer mortality in diabetes patients. METHODS: All consecutive diabetes patients aged over 40 years, residing in a major urban area were screened at their first diabetes outpatient visit between 01/01/2001-12/31/2008 (n = 79869). Exclusion criteria were insulin treatment at screening, no insulin treatment until 12/31/2008, less than 6 months of glucose-lowering treatment alone before insulin initiation, insulin prescription before glargine became available, age <40/≥ 80 years at first insulin prescription, and <6 months of insulin exposure...

AIMS: To compare the 5-year mortality (overall and cause-specific) of a cohort of adults pharmacologically treated for diabetes with that of the rest of the French adult population. METHODS: In 2001, 10 000 adults treated for diabetes were randomly selected from the major French National Health Insurance System database. Vital status and causes of death were successfully extracted from the national registry for 9101 persons. We computed standardized mortality ratios...

In diabetic patients complicated with colorectal cancer (CRC), metformin treatment was reported to have diverse correlation with CRC-specific mortality. In laboratory studies, metformin was reported to affect the survival of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in breast and pancreatic cancers and glioblastoma. Although cscs play a critical role in the resistance to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy in CRC patients, the effect of metformin on cscs in CRC patients and the synergistic effect of metformin in combination with 5-FU on cscs are not reported...